‘I never say never now!'

Fleur East on embracing new challenges, married life and the end of The X Factor

- BOBBY NORRIS

She came runner-up on The X Factor in 2014, braved the I’m A Celebrity jungle in 2018, cracked the world of presenting with Hits Radio and has even created her own cocktail – Fleur East does it all!

The 34-year-old, who married fashion designer Marcel Badiane-Robin in 2019, tells me over the phone that she’s still in touch with her fellow campmates via a WhatsApp group.

“Nick Knowles was just on it the other day saying, ‘I’m in London, does anyone want to meet up?’ We still message a lot,” she says.

Here, I speak with Fleur about reality TV, her plans for new music and, of course, gin…

Hey, Fleur! It’s been the strangest couple of years. How was it for you, babe?

Well, I was lucky because radio was considered critical broadcasting. So we were still broadcasting through the whole pandemic. In terms of my music career, though, it was really hard because I released my first independent album, Fearless, in March 2020, which was the worst timing ever. I was supposed to go on tour, do my radio tour and promote it all, but I had to pull everything. And then I couldn’t reschedule it because every time I was trying to, there was another lockdown. It hit me hard musically. It was really tough.

Have you managed to reschedule the tour now?

Well, it’s weird because my album will be two years old this year. I’m almost ready to record new music. I might have to compile everything and do a new show.

You do music, radio, presenting – you’ve got a lot of strings to your bow, babes. Would you consider doing more reality TV?